Archives for: December 2011

12/25/11

So, other than sleeping in past 11am...and a frantic search for work phone (turned out it was exactly where it was supposed to be, I had just put my Kindle on top of it last night.)

I remembered that there was one very important gift to give on Christmas Day. New batteries for my smoke detectors.

Even though one of them ran down early back in November...I replaced batteries in all 4 of them. With new batteries I had picked up a couple of weeks ago.

But, before I got to...I ended up hitting a few other chores that I needed to do, like laundry, dishes, and cleaning my CPAP stuff. (not in this order...)

Think my Intellipap AutoAdjust just might still have its original filters in place....so I swapped it for the pair of foam and white filters that came with it, threw out the white (which didn't look that bad, considering neglected white filters in my old CPAP would look pretty dark....perhaps time of year plays a part). Knew I had bought extras, looked around a bit...but couldn't find them, though I found a package with one remaining white filter for my old machine (as well as a packages with 24 or 30 new ones.) I had dug out the old machine on Friday to do a download, but had already put it back....so I had to dig it out again to replace its filters. I some how manage to keep losing foam filters now and then after I wash them. Probably because I leave them near room fan to dry, and when they become dry they take flight. Well, I have a few new ones...so that went into the old machine and I put it back in its travel bag.

Someday I should replace the hose in the travel bag....

I then took mask cushion and went to clean these items.

Not sure if I'll get to a laundry load today or tomorrow where I run headgear through. There was something else I was going to do this break laundry wise...not sure if I'll get to it now. That's wash my winter jacket. Perhaps I'll try to do that after the whites are done. And, leave colored and hand wash loads to tomorrow. Not sure if I'll do that other special load this weekend....

12/18/11

Winter has been weird this year...but there's a winter storm alert finally? Though its the rain and snow kind with ice accumulation and inches of snow type. Just as long as it isn't another icepocalyse of 4 years ago.

Though seems interesting that the computer I bought to replace the one I lost during the icepocalyse, died on Friday. Almost as if it was designed to die after 4 years. Annoyed, because its orac, my backuppc/file server. There's 16 drives on the machine, a total raw storage of 23TB....though only about 11.5 usable TB. And, a whole lot less in TiBs.

I'm hoping its something simple though....was looking at the hardware monitor in the BIOS screen...where it reads out voltages...and the lower voltages are low....though are those from the supply or are those generated on the motherboard? Seemed to me that motherboard generates some of the values, but not sure what I'll do if that's the case.

Also seems odd that it died shortly after I turned on heat Friday morning. Anyways...I had been considering getting a new power supply for orac for other reasons, so I jumped over to Amazon and took the plunge to get a new one by Amazon Prime. I had also been meaning to upgrade the case fan on it orac....I mentioned this before....stock fan is 80mm, but there's holes for a bigger fan. I had/have some extra ones around, so I had tried those...except that my extras are too big...so not 120mm. So, I had looked at 92mm, and I did end up with one, but failed to notice that it wasn't a 3-pin fan. So, maybe I'll add one of those to.

So, cart is adding up...and I'm looking at items I have 'saved for later'....and well, new humidifier is among there. Its pretty expensive....~$88 Its an Essick Air Tower Humidifier, though its about the same price as what my old Essick Air unit...though thinking the tower form would work better with where I've been using the old one, plus the old one's fan has become the issue... Though I guess its only 2 years old. I wish I could find something like the humidifier I had back when I was in Medicine Hat....while it eventually got nasty inside, that thing worked well for years and wasn't that expensive as I recall. And, it was easy to fill too. Since, then...I guess the Essick Air is the first one that I got more than one season out of....two whole ones, in fact (though some debate as to how well near the end.) And, it did a good job too. Plus the tower I'm looking at, uses the same wicks as the old one...so I already have an extra set somewhere.

Though having an extra set of wicks isn't a requirement for what I get...though footprint and output are...and pretty much I think wick types are the only kind I'll consider now. And, brand isn't necessarily a requirement...though past experience with other brands has made me leary of others. Plus there's feature differences. Some do take less space, but only have one tank. But, I'm running this single humidifier to try to humidify my entire condo...so it does have to be big as well... But, have time before I have to complete the order...so reviewing all the results....wouldn't be so painful if amazon's search was so fuzzy. I'm searching for just "humidifier", and its showing me things like cribs, pillows, swaddles, bassinets, dehumidifiers, evaporator coolers, air purifiers, bottle brush, nipple cleaner, heaters, bonsai tree, air conditioners...though the cigar related humidifiers probably aren't out of line, though I don't really think they should be in the department I'm searching under. And, the further out...finding humidifiers becomes less and less likely, but sometimes there'll be one here and there....though I'm sure if they weren't so fuzzy, I wouldn't have 10x the results to wade through....though sometimes the result is way near the end. But, not this time.

Anyways...that's pretty much what should just be in my amazon cart. But, if I add a few more items, I can get 6-month do not pay on my Amazon card....and I've already put off getting the humidifier too long already.

12/05/11

Here are some of the pictures of me at Chicago TARDIS 2011, with some of the special guests that were there. I'm wearing my usual attire, where I'm dressed as my own Doctor, though this year I added a bow tie on Saturday. Because bow ties are cool.

Incase I forgot to blog about it or haven't even mentioned it....during the summer, I broke down and snapped up a DSLR.

In a strange move, I had gone with a Pentax....specifically the Pentax K-r. A large part of my decision was the ability to use commonly available batteries. Came in handy during my last trip...where I seemed to keep running into the hotel gift shop to buy batteries.

I did finally get around to ordering some extra LiIon batteries and an extra charger for the Pentax K-r, but not sure they'll arrive in time for my next trip. Maybe I've bitten myself by setting my mail hold to start before the trip, rather than the day of the trip....

I haven't done any real shooting with the camera yet, just been walking around home getting a feel for it. One thing I've found, is the autofocus is really slow if live-view is used. (which I guess is well covered online...) So, I guess the real SLR experience is there. Though it does default to having review on...like most digital cameras, so I can do the chimping.

Though I usually disable the review function on my digital cameras, especially in situations where I want the least delay between shots...like when I was at Chicago Tardis. So, I'll probably turn it off on the DSLR.

Anyways...the thing I miss...is that they don't sell cameras any more with a 'normal' lense anymore.

It used to be all cameras typically came with a 50mm prime lens...typically an f/1.8 (or better.) Now instead, they come with a simple/slow zoom lens (in my case, a 18mm-55mm f/3.5-5.6). Wishing there was a ~35mm (1.5x) prime lens as the stock.... Since being the standard lens, it would probably be cheap too.

Now, I have a Tamron 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens for it...though I'm questioning if that's what I really want to use.

In the old days I had a nice Tamron 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 zoom lens...though that MF and Nikon (though I don't know if tracking down an adaptall mount for Pentax would get me anything).

Thing is that while I was shooting at Chicago Tardis....I saw there was quite the difference between my Canon Powershot SX120is with its f/2.8-4.3 lens versus my Nikon Coolpix S80 with its f/3.6-4.8 lens.

So kind of wishing for a nice affordable 35mm or 50mm (23.33mm or 33.33m) full frame equivalent prime lens in the f/1.8 or better kind of thing.

Maybe I should've gone with a Nikon DSLR...at least I have the normal lens that came with my first Nikon somewhere still (the later Nikon's were body only.)

Yeah...I primarily shoot in situations of low light and no flashes allowed (though it doesn't stop other people from using flash and ruining shots of mine here and there....) Zoom is nice, but to some extent I can crop better in post. Might want some other size primes though, in case I don't find myself right up close.

Not sure if or when I'll get to getting a hot shoe flash for this camera....

Still working on a case to carry my camera around....miss my old case, but it was bad that I used a lot of duct tape (rather than gaffers tape) back then....and had left a lot taped to it before it went into storage....

This being Cyberweek...I tried to cram some stuff in other than just recovery from Chicago Tardis into this week.

Though I haven't actually gotten to all the things yet...I felt that I should start this post before I forget all the things I wanted to cover. Too late

Anyways...one of the important items was new CO detector. I used to have a First Alert CO400?, battery operated CO detector that took a couple AA batteries and didn't do much else. I was looking to buy something like it again, except reading the negative reviews on amazon.com... a number of other people were complaining that unit disintegrates when you try to change the batteries. Which is why I was needing to replace my old one. So, I decided that maybe I would look at a different brand this time around.

Also noted that these things have like a 5 year life expectancy...though my First Alert CO detector was only a year old. I noticed that Kidde CO detectors claim a 7 year life span (though only a 5 year warranty). Though (in part due to Amazon 'recommendations') I got the Kidde KN-COPP-B-LPM, which has a digital display....showing current CO levels and historical levels, etc. Which I debated on whether I would want to know if there was a CO level, that wasn't alarming.

Don't know if I paid attention to the fact that it uses 3 AA batteries....one odd thing I've noticed, is that it doesn't say if I should replace batteries regularly....but I suspect it'll be part of the same routine with replacing smoke detector batteries.

Though I don't think I'll replace the CO batteries along with the smoke detector ones on December 25th (because of long DST, I had changed my bi-annual to be on or around June 25th and December 25th.) Though, I've already replaced the battery early in one of the smoke detectors. Odd, because there hadn't been any nuisance trips in some time...and it isn't one that is typically set off by these situations. (usually ones that nuisance trip is the detector in the living room [near the kitchen or the first bedroom from the kitchen. Yeah...something I'm burning on the stove or in the microwave is usually the cause.)

But, getting a new set of 4 9V batteries was something I got in my recent cyberweek purchasing...

ENG is Electronystagmography, so I had visions of being wired up similar to my previous PSG/MSLT experiences… but what I had was a VNG, Videonystagmography…where I just wear goggles that watch how my eyes respond to various visual stimulus, positional situations, and blowing warm and then cool air into my ear.

The blowing of air…makes for some pretty horrible spinning….nauseous, and a horrible headache.

Wonder what kind of find I want though…. in 2002 I had heard terms like BPPV and Meniere’s…and that the medication sucked more than the dizziness. Of course, Meniere’s is yet another idiopathic disease…and autoimmune. Though ENT is thinking that my dizziness/vertigo, etc. wasn’t due to an inner ear problem, but rather some other neurological condition….so that he might be referring me back to the Neurologist that had referred me to him.

So, do we just confirm that its still the same thing I had in 2002, and I just suffer…because primary doesn’t want to give me anything that has a potential side effect of causing drowsiness… Like that has anything to do with my hypersomnia. Or even when its medication prescribed by my sleep doctor. Or, that …. not sure…that this overlooked symptom combined with all my other issues, finally leads to the correct diagnosis.

Now instead of subjecting some poor random forum to a long rambling thought, I will try to consolidate those things into this blog where they can be more easily ignored profess to be collected thoughts from my mind.